Stormborn
by Gillette-x
Summary: Love is what leads us to madness; Love and death, both sides of the same coin. So be careful, your grace, for love is venom, and it runs right across our blood to our hearts. Oneshot, JonxDany, sorry for so much tragedy at the end. Rated T for sibling-violence.


**Stormborn**

"_Love is what leads us to madness; Love and death, both sides of the same coin. So be careful, your grace, for love is venom, and it runs right across our blood to our hearts."_

War was over and now the three-headed dragon controlled Westeros again. Jon, Daenerys, Tyrion, three Dragon Riders who conquered the great Kingdom on the backs of Vyserion, Drogon and Rhaegal. It all seemed to have recovered its balance. But Daenerys feared it would not be the end.

A storm had started to unleash inside of her heart, a storm she wanted to avoid in order not to fall in the same mad-sickness that had corrupted her father and brother. But it roared louder into her ears, screaming and burning with a name, his name: "Jon".

**·o·o·O·0·O·o·o·**

It all started with fraternal love, the kind of love not everyone gets, sincere and deceiving at the same time. It made Daenerys crave for what she never had, and Tyrion fear for what he never knew, and Jon long for what he'd never recover.

They had found a way to love each other, as a family, to find the tender love they all missed. They might never be able to recover those they had lost, but they were able to find a compensation for what was taken away from them in each other. They'd also found a way to involve their "bastard" brother-uncle, Tyrion, in that kind of love.

It took a little longer for the dwarf, who had never been invited to sharing such fraternity, to accept it and grow fond of it. But soon he started joining them in a love that grew more deep and loyal with time. Simple acts such as holding each other in an embrace or sharing a warm conversation among the candles of a dinning table, simple words like "trust", "protect", "together", which could mean less to others, but to them, they meant the world.

And before the war ended they were a true family, maybe the last real family in the middle of all the chaos and destruction.

**·o·o·O·0·O·o·o·**

Daenerys learned she loved Jon more than as a brother the first time she saw him with Vyserion. The dragon and the Targaryen prince seemed to have a special connection from the moment they met. And as Dany was walking trough the training grounds near the enormous Kings Landing, she caught sight of her nephew and the colossal golden dragon.

She saw them both looking into each other's eyes like they were father and son, she felt a pang in her heart, maybe a sign of jealousy or possession, since she was supposed to be Vyserion's mother. She walked to them, Vyserion roared, excited to see her, before obliging its master on keeping quiet. Dany smiled.

"He likes you." Jon let out a small laugh.

"More than Rhaegal likes Tyrion. Last time he had to escape from being eaten." They both laughed.

"Maybe I've spoiled them a little too much." Dany said, looking at Vyserion with a sad look. "They are my only children, after all." Vyserion roared, claiming the attention he wasn't getting. "He's just like my brother when young..." Jon extended a hand to caress the dragon's scales. "So naïve, so… vulnerable…" the dragon closed his eyes at the feeling of Jon's touch "Such an unfortunate soul, waiting to be corrupted…"

Her words left Jon in shock. He had heard about Viserys. He was a crazy, sadistic boy, who mistreated his sister by making her believe she wasn't worth anything. Yet, there she was, holding nothing against him. No grudges, no hate. Dany noticed, but didn't expect Jon to understand. She had forgiven her brother a long time ago, and had prayed for his soul to find peace, the peace he never found in life.

"You are truly the most beautiful and kind queen this hatred kingdom could ever have." Jon said with a soft smile. Dany felt his words strike something deep within her. Her greatest fears overtook her memories.

"Will Tyrion and you do what's right, and kill me once madness overtakes me?"

"That won't happen to you."

"It happened to my father and my brother. It can happen to me too." Vyserion got away from Jon's touch, as if he sensed the storm of feelings bursting inside his master. "Swear it to me, nephew."

"I cannot swear that, my Queen." Jon responded. "But I can swear to you, that if madness threatens to grab you I'll defeat it before it takes you away from us."

"And how will you do that?" she asked, challenging. He gulped and frowned, as if he wasn't sure he should continue.

"I'll take you in my arms every night and day. I'll cradle you to my chest and talk to you until you regain your sanity. And if that doesn't work, I'll defy madness myself, and ask the gods of reason to take my life and let you free of that curse in exchange."

He had said it in a low, barely perceptible whisper. Still, his words were like a roar in her ears as they roamed every corner of her mind, filling her with the warmest sense of safety she had ever sensed.

That day she learned she loved him. Not only because of what he swore, not only because of what he said. Other men had promised her the world and the stars among it, other men had said such beautiful things to her too. That day she learned she loved him, because no other man could have made her feel what she felt in that moment.

**·o·o·O·0·O·o·o·**

He had been a member of the Nightswatch, and although his bond to his raven-brothers was broken, his bows seemed not to be. He had betrayed them once, and he would never do that again. Plus, there still was the shadow of a dead lover in his memories. A ghost that seemed to be as alive to him as Khal-Drogo was to Dany.

When the small signs of an incipient love between him and his aunt had started to show he cut them with a straight. But it retaliated against him, no matter what he tried to do, how he tried to avoid it; the feelings grew stronger every single day and night.

She let out a scream. Jon's eyes came back to normal and he looked at her startled. He took her in his arms before she fainted, while Vyserion roared hard thinking her mother had been hurt.

"It's all right Dany, I'm here. Nothing wrong has happened, Vyserion is all right…" He took her arm as she recovered her senses and looked at Jon, then at her child.

"What happened to you?" she asked, still frightened. "What in the seven hells did you do to my child?" Her words hurt him, not only because of what she had suggested (that he might be capable of hurting Vyserion), but because of her cold, icy tone. That afternoon, Jon told her about the skin-changers, their abilities to enter the minds of animals and see through their eyes. A connection Jon liked to call "warg". He could get inside Vyserion's head, which was the reason both became bond to each other. Jon told her he hadn't been able to get inside other animals heads since Ghost disappeared.

"When the men of the Nightswatch attacked me" he started, "I was believed to be dead. Melissandre told me she had seen the spirit of a white wolf get inside my body before the men lit up the pyre to burn me. I woke up, like if I had been in a long dream, and I heard Ghost's howl inside my head. I still feel him inside me. I'm half-Jon, half-Ghost. Somehow, he managed to transfer his life into my body. I haven't found him since. I've tried to make contact with him, but can't sense him." Jon remained silent for a minute. Then he carried on. "Sometimes, in my dreams, I find myself in his body, I see Nymmeria and Summer. I see a fierce girl commanding a whole wolf pack, and a grown up boy who can't walk, riding on Summer's back." He gulped. "She looks like Arya, gods, she looks so much like her… and Bran… the man has his eyes… they both walk together, evoking familiar days in Winterfell, they both cuddle to sleep at night like Arya and Bran used to when they were children… they both fight and argue about new abilities, trying to make a point about one being more important than the other… and then I wonder whether it is a fantasy, whether my desire to find them is so hard… I've imagined them growing up."

She listened to him quietly, amazement and bitterness building up in her heart. Jon looked at her, flashes of light in his dark eyes. He suddenly held her small hand in his, as if he was trying to comfort himself.

"How do they look like?" Dany asked, trying to comfort him by letting him believe his siblings were still alive.

"He's still boy, doesn't have the strength he should; the eyes of an old man, like he's lived a thousand years." Jon smiled. "She's a wild beauty, slim muscular body, she moves like a dancer…" a moment of silence. "She needs him to remind her of her humanity. He needs her to remind him of his strength. They are so young… lone and bitter roaming alone in a land of ice. They need each other…" Dany smiled and her fingers closed around his.

"Like I need you" She whispered.

A wild fire seemed to consume his heart at her words. Warmth spread across his body, he felt a happiness he hadn't felt since the days he had spent with his family at Winterfell. He knew she wasn't regretting her words, and it hurt even more, the fact that she felt the same way he did. He didn't want to let go of her, but he had to; he didn't want to, but he was bond to. He gulped, let go of her as suddenly as he had held her, and stood up, trying to say something to ease the tension that overcame from what she had said. No words came out of his mouth. He just walked away.

**·o·o·O·0·O·o·o·**

With the three rightful kings at the head of the Iron Throne, Daenerys had only one last purpose, mend the bonds between the Kingdom and the houses that served it. Tyrion would go south and Jon would go north. As the young king heard that, his face changed into hatred he couldn't hide. Daenerys asked him why, but he didn't respond.

"If you allow me, your grace, I'd prefer not to talk about it." Daenerys knew he wasn't supposed to hide any secrets from her, but she obliged, more concerned about his pain than the matter of politics.

"Why is he so sad?" she had asked Tyrion that night, as they both dined alone. Jon had skipped dinner and locked himself in his bedroom.

"He doesn't want to go back." Tyrion said with his general wisdom. "For him, those lands are full of ghosts."

"They might, but they are also full of hope, right? He can find his siblings there, again."

"And what if he doesn't?" Tyrion said. "His fear is greater than his joy, Your Grace."

"I don't understand."

"You and I couldn't possibly understand, for love has been a bitch with us, Dany." She laughed at his statement.

"True" Tyrion smiled sadly.

"But not with him. No, he... he knew love; True love; father's love, brother's love, sister's love, pack's love, lover's love. He lost it, all of it. And perhaps that's the reason why he's much more afraid than us... because he doesn't want to experience that again."

**·o·o·O·0·O·o·o·**

She found him that night, while he was wandering the halls close to her chamber. She approached him without fear, like the fire she irradiated. When she approached, closing their distance, her touch burned his skin. He felt her kiss, making his blood boil and his skin hurt from the heat. Sure, he was a Targaryen too, but he was also a winter creature, and heat wasn't something he was used to.

That night he couldn't get away from her. She was on flames, his almighty queen, and he loved her with all the endless burning fire of his heart. She blew life into him, corrupting him with hope and passion and the sense of feeling alive for the first time in long time.

He would never stop the storm unleashing in his heart after that, and he wasn't aware that that storm was slowly eating away his reason.

**·o·o·O·0·O·o·o·**

Ice, it quickly froze her blood as she met the Warriors of Winterfell's eyes. Jon ran to his dearest siblings with tears in his eyes and entwined with them in a never ending hug. And while he was completely unaware of his siblings eyes focused on the Silver Queen, she was, a storm of ice and fire unleashing inside her heart.

The Wolf Lady she was called, the Moonlight in the Middle of the Long Night. Completely opposite to Dany's fire, Arya was pure ice. Wild beauty, mesmerizing as death itself; it was said men were capable of destroying a whole kingdom just to get one kiss from those frozen, deadly lips. She didn't seem to mind, though. She was more of a wolf than a lady.

Her brother was different, kind and merciful, he was bond to restrain the winter's rage. The Raven Lord they called him, the Life Whisperer. His legs were dead, broken, his body not quite strong. Diseases and fevers tended to ravage his health, for he ate too little and worked too much. He was a cripple; still he was wiser than any man she had ever met.

They were both the guardians of the Wall, the ones meant to protect Westeros from the winter that would desolate their land for a hundred years. They both could pierce the soul of any human with their eyes, and see their deepest secrets. So when they both looked at Dany for the first time, they knew.

Bran's first feeling at the revelation was pain for his brother's fate. Arya's was anger, and Dany felt it as it froze her own boiling blood. Her brother managed to calm her down once more, none of them said anything the first night they met. With time, Dany's discomfort ceased, as she learned that beyond that icy wall that seemed to prevent anyone from entering, there were warm, boiling hearts, as welcoming as Jon's had been, and therefore, as watchful and possessive.

"Would you mind walking with me trough the gardens, Fire Queen?" She met those icy eyes, so similar to Jon's, ready to break her stronger barriers and pierce her soul. She couldn't refuse the offer though, so she just nodded and the dark haired beauty extended her arm for her to take. They wandered the frozen gardens outside the rebuilt castle. In spite of her best effort, Dany couldn't dissimulate the chills that run down her spine. She was used to the tropical heats of Essos, not the cutting winds of Winterfell.

She felt the heat and weight of a cloak over her shoulders. Arya's, and for the first time she felt weak and exposed against winter, against Arya's piercing gaze, against the world.

"I couldn't think of borrowing your cloak." She said, and tried removing it.

"You better keep it; otherwise you'll end up getting sick."

"What about you?" Arya shrugged and stood with her face against the wind.

"It's not even that cold for me. But I'm a winter creature; you were born in the heat of Essos."

"Have you ever been to Essos, my lady?"

"Aye, my queen, and I remember feeling like a sweaty pig boiling in giant cauldron." They laughed, hard, and when Dany looked into Arya's eyes again they didn't look that threatening anymore.

**·o·o·O·0·O·o·o·**

"Lovers?"

"You heard me. She refuses to get married; she'd rather die at the hands of the Great Ice."

"She's never been one to follow tradition, right?" Jon whispered with a slight smirk. The matter of Arya turning into a woman so prematurely didn't harm him as it would have had it happened five years ago. Bran just smiled, as his hand softly scratched Summer's ears. "What about you? Any woman pleased to visit your chambers?"

"Women are made for warriors and champions like you. Not for cripples." Bran sensed more than seeing Jon's expression. "It's true, dear brother. I'll never have children of my own, I can't..."

"What about Shireen?" he asked his brother. "You love her, don't you?"

"Shireen is the child of my eyes, yes. But I only loved one woman in my life, her name was Meera and she died fighting the Great Snowfall. Now she's just another ghost, roaming around, silently, reminding me of how many fell in this war."

"Ghosts are only ghosts, Bran. And they disappear when someone new fills the hollow they left."

"Is that what you tell yourself when you are with her?" Bran's statement left him speechless and shocked. "Wargs, Jon. We can see whatever we want to see, even the darkest corners of the human soul. You can see it too, why didn't you notice?"

"I noticed." Jon said. "I just thought it was my imagination."

"Beginner" Jon let out a little laugh, still considering what this new discovered power could mean to him and his kingdom, to him and Dany. "Your Silver Queen cannot know, Jon. She already knows too much." Jon turned to his brother in a haze.

"You have the gift of forsight!" He clutched Bran's shoulder, whose expression was none too pleased. "You have seen us, Bran. Haven't you?" The boy tightened his jaw and looked at him not quite knowing what he should do.

"I looked into you future, Jon. And I didn't like what I saw." Jon nudged him quietly to go on, not knowing what he meant. "She's your doom, brother. She loves you... maybe too much... and love is what drives us to madness, love and death are both sides of the same coin."

"You lie!" Jon said with sudden anger, but stopped, afraid of what may happen to him if he raged. He couldn't possibly rage at his little brother, his litter, one of the last members of his pack. And he suddenly felt so ashamed for raising his voice at him. Still, Bran didn't even blink, like he was expecting his reaction to come, instead, he just sighed and looked away.

"The decision, brother, is yours and yours alone."

"I've made my decision. I made her from the moment I kissed her burning lips, and let my skin burn with her fire! I am hers, not yours, not Arya's, hers! And she's mine!"

"Brother..."

"No!" he suddenly got up, all thoughts and feelings of brotherhood shattered. "You traitor! Now I understand! You want me to leave her so that you and Arya can have me back!" He walked towards Bran, and Summer got in the middle of them both, angry in a way Bran had never seen before. It frightened the boy so much; he wasn't able to react when the direwolf jumped on his long-life sibling.

Jon took the beast by the neck with a force Bran had never seen before and crashed it against the wall. The groan of pain that came from the cripple's mouth at the feeling of his own flesh crushed made Jon turn to reality in one second. Bran looked into his eyes, but they were lost. He was no longer the Jon he knew, the Jon he had grown up with. He could only see Lyanna's eyes, as he had seen them in his visions, filled only with the spark of love that overwhelmed any other sense of reason.

As Jon stormed out of the room and Summer came back to his senses, a single tear ran trough Bran's cheek, and he silently prayed to the Old Gods that destiny wouldn't be so cruel to the lovesick lovers like it had been before.

**·o·o·O·0·O·o·o·**

"It's been so cruel of you to burst into my brother's life, Fire Queen." Arya's sharp, angry voice made her insides froze again. Daenerys had seen this coming, but she hadn't expected it to come so suddenly. She turned to meet her pale eyes and felt them piercing her insides. "You thought I didn't know? Don't you see I can see the deepest corners of your soul?"

"I don't know what you mean by talking about my cruelty." Dany retaliated. She was the dragon; she wasn't going to let the wolf win without a fight. "Aren't you the one who takes people's life and rips families apart?"

"Am I the one who has lost her head for a man? Who has stolen a man's heart and is incapable of giving it back?"

"You don't know what you are talking about."

"Oh, but I do, my Queen!" she said with newfound anger. "I know! My passion has killed every single man I've loved and yours has done the same with one single blow! Or do you not remember the warrior and son you loved and gave to the Bloodstained God without knowing?"

"That won't happen to your brother!" Dany roared against the wind, before realizing she had admitted it plainly. Arya's eyes showed her the truth; she had fallen into her trap. Dany tried to hit her face, she tried to scratch that deadly beauty of hers in revenge, but Arya stopped her hand and closed her sharp nails around it, hurting the Queen.

"Do you love Jon Snow?" she asked. Dany bit her lip, ignoring completely the pain of the she-wolf's claws ripping her skin.

"I do."

"Then let him go." Arya pleaded.

But even Arya knew the war was lost. As she looked into the dragon queen's eyes she could no longer see the light of reason. It had been lost inside the storm of her burning heart. Daenerys broke free of her grasp and with a firm blow; she struck her face in a way she wasn't able to evade.

"I am the Queen, and he is my dragon! Mine! No one else's! The next time you or your cripple brother try to stop me I'll burn you all! To ashes!" As the beautiful woman stormed away, Arya heard Bran's voice inside her.

_It's all lost, sister. I could see it in his eyes too. He'll no longer listen to us either._

_I know._ Death had taken what was his. If love and life was the same thing for them, than the Bloodstained God would take it, and leave nothing behind.

"_Love is what leads us to madness; Love and death, both sides of the same coin. So be careful, stormborn child, for love shall possess your heart, and make it burst in a snowfall."_

* * *

_Jon and Dany were the victims of my effortless need of pain this time... Can someone stop me before I continue writing tragic oneshots about ASOIF? I just can't help it, George R.R. Martin created the perfect world for greek tragedy to unleash in its most beautiful, painful expression..._

_and yes, I shall continue my Queen of Love and Beauty story, at least that one shall have a happy ending... almost... I promise!_


End file.
